Boris Johnson to visit Kyiv and also call Putin

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will visit Ukraine
as well as call Russian President Vladimir Putin this week. The announcement
comes after Johnson gave a report in Parliament about the situation in Ukraine.
In the speech, Johnson pointed to the fact that, “Russia has, of course,
already attacked Ukraine, illegally annexing 10,000 square miles of her
territory in 2014 and igniting a war in the Donbas region, and Ukraine has
scarcely known a day of peace ever since.”

Defense Minister Liz Truss stated on Sky News on Jan.
30 that the U.K. would expand its range of sanctions to include Russian
oligarchs living or with property in the U.K. but with Kremlin ties. Truss
stated that she would propose legislation to enhance the UK’s ability to target
assets owned by Russians in the U.K. deemed as strategic to the Kremlin’s
interests if Russia were to attack Ukraine.

James Hydzik: Two
important trends can be seen from the U.K. ministers’ statements. First,
Johnson referred to the fact that Russia had already invaded Ukraine in 2014.
This has become part of the refrain from western leaders recently. It’s an
important point to raise when making a case for further military assistance
despite the drive for negotiation.

The other point is the increasing focus on sanctions
that are seen as hitting Putin and those benefiting most from Kremlin ties. The
U.K., U.S., and EU are all coordinating their sanctions schemes in order to
prevent discord among the allies, minimize damage to their own economies, and
bring the point home to the Russians. This unity in particular seems to have
startled the Russians.